iconia a500 not bootingSupport

Hi. My Iconia got bad suddenly. Stopped in the middle of some streaming and will not reboot. It sits on "acer" screen forever. I tried power on/volume up combo, it started reset, but went nowhere. i think it is looking for update card on SD. Any ideas how to proceed? Of course, it happened right after the warranty expired.

If the tablet is on -- e.g., stuck at the Android or Acer boot screen -- you must power down before starting the procedure by holding the power button for 5 seconds.

The button timing for the Factory data reset is very important. Hold the power button for only 3 secs only, continue holding volume up, and operate the screen rotation lock switch immediately after the vibration is felt.

Look at the upper left corner of the screen for:
Erasing user data...
Erasing cache...

If you don't see both messages, hold the power button for 5 seconds to power down again and start the procedure over. It can take a few tries to time it properly.

Ok, tried reset. it kind of worked: i got erasing... messages, then the screen went black briefly (like 5 secs). then "ACER" screen apperared and it stays forever

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That sounds pretty bad. It appears that either the OS firmware is corrupt, or you've encountered a critical hardware failure. Based on your account of how this started, I would guess the latter. I'm guessing this only because in your first post, you wrote that the tablet was just streaming and died. That particular type of failure would not likely have been caused by a firmware update interruption, because the device would have already booted successfully for you to be using it as you stated you were when it failed.

While this appears to be a hardware problem, it also seems that you have little to lose by downloading a stock ROM of whatever version you were running and trying a flash ROM recovery via the SD card. You could also try the custom ROM route, and there may actually be more support available for that solution.

Hi. My Iconia got bad suddenly. Stopped in the middle of some streaming and will not reboot. It sits on "acer" screen forever. I tried power on/volume up combo, it started reset, but went nowhere. i think it is looking for update card on SD. Any ideas how to proceed? Of course, it happened right after the warranty expired.

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This exact same thing happened to me this morning. I was streaming some video, the tablet froze and I restarted it. Now all it does is stay on the "acer" screen.

I tried doing a factory reset every way know to man, including attaching a keyboard and using the menu and nothing happens. It also appeared to be looking for an update on the SD card.

Csdmxp did not state which streaming app was running when this problem occurred. It seems that this may be worthwhile for others to know at this point. Please post the name of the app that you were using to stream video when this happened to your tablet. If you recall the video format, file, and/or site that may be of some use also. There may be something in there that others will want to avoid, or at least be cautious of considering how severe the consequences appear to be.

The warranty period for new Acer Inconia tablets is one year mail-in/carry-in. To obtain telephone support, you will need a copy of the receipt/invoice to use as proof of purchase if the manufacture date (printed on the box) is longer than 1 year ago.

Yes. The OP sent the tablet in to repair the failed hardware, which is what this problem most often is if it happens during normal app operation. All of the boot problems I've read about that started as a result of streaming video were apparently hardware related, and likely due to failure of the internal NAND flash storage. Most have reported that main boards were replaced to fix this.

Mine just did the same thing...except I wasn't streaming anything---I was in an RPN
calculator. It froze up (date/time not even updating), then on a reboot, froze at the
Android screen. After a LONG time, tried again, and now it freezes at "acer"....

After going through multiple wrong numbers provided by Acer as the "right" number
to call, I finally got passed to the chat support. Hardware issue, out of warranty (as
of the 3rd) $200 + tax + shipping. That's 3 A500s failing right after the warranty
is expired. Coincidence? Sure...right...uh huh, yeah, I believe that.... (No I don't)

This will most definitely be my last Acer ANYTHING. I lost all kinds of information
(a lot of which is medical---it's backed up on my computer, but my tablet was the
primary, so I didn't exactly lose it...just lost the best method of using it). Now I'm
back to having to remember stuff with memory that's been damaged by my first
cancer.... I am NOT happy right now at all.

My Acer Iconia 500 had the same issue, twice. The first time was 6 months use after purchase. It happened without any significant events...the tablet just stalled, and after the hard reboot there was the ever lasting Acer logo. Acer had the main-board replaced, as noted on the service note. After another 6 months, one day prior to warranty expiration, it happened again! Acer said it will take it back for physical examination, and I am almost sure that the mainboard will need to be replaced, again. My fear is, will it happen again after the second mainboard? What is wrong with Acer?

My Acer Iconia 500 had the same issue, twice. The first time was 6 months use after purchase. It happened without any significant events...the tablet just stalled, and after the hard reboot there was the ever lasting Acer logo. Acer had the main-board replaced, as noted on the service note. After another 6 months, one day prior to warranty expiration, it happened again! Acer said it will take it back for physical examination, and I am almost sure that the mainboard will need to be replaced, again. My fear is, will it happen again after the second mainboard? What is wrong with Acer?

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I gave up on Acer after mine died in the same way as everyone else's. By the
way, you're the first person I've heard about whose A500 died before a few
days after the warranty ran out. But, having died twice in that year, that's
really bad, too.

I still stand by what I said (and told Acer's tech unsupport): I will NEVER buy
another Acer product, and I will advise anyone I know of who is considering
doing so to just buy a real paperweight instead of spending the extra money
and waiting a bit.

Mine has been Rock Steady.....Getting a bit tired now but still does its thing!

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Same here. My a500 has been a great value. If it quits tomorrow, I've already gotten my money's worth.

These devices are a consumable product. When either the battery or storage fails, the product has more than likely merely worn out. Depending on the level of care and use, some will wear out faster than others.

None of the top ten brands appears to be notably better than any other. If you compare relative to market share for various devices of the same class, failure rates appear to be roughly equivalent across the board.

Regardless of the brand, most Android tablets are made from a small selection of components supplied by only a handful of manufacturers and arranged in only slightly different configurations. The value differences in brand appear to depend mostly on which packaging of features one wants.

This is way too much of a coincidence! Warranty expired 2 days ago. Acer locked up this morning on Acer boot screen. WTF? Does this mean I lose all my game progress if I have it replaced? Sigh.

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If it's a coincidence, the earth will explode in 1 second. [waits] Nope. Must not be
a coincidence. Seriously, it's happened too many times, to too many tablets (mine
included) to be anywhere NEAR a coincidence. Granted, it hasn't happened to all
A500 users, but I still can't imagine a coincidence like this, no matter how much
Acer denies that it's anything more.

Oh, and mine took more than a few days---it lasted a few weeks after the warranty
ran out, and then died in the same way....tablet froze while I was not really doing
much of anything (I think I had a file transfer between my computer and tablet
going), and then when I tried to reboot, it was stuck on the ACER logo. I did a
hard reset...no change.

As for your game progress, if it was stored on your tablet, it's toast unless
you get your tablet to boot again. Good luck with that, and if you do, be sure
to tell the rest of us how you did it.

Hmmmm :-(
Not to happy at the moment. My A500 frooze the way most of you described. I got the yellow lying Android symbol on my screen before it "died". Now i only get the Acer symbol when i try to boot the tablet. I used the Swedish Television streaming application when this happened.

I had the same problem. I was watching a football game on WatchESPN, in mid September ... It would not turn off. Hit the reset button, all I got from there on was the ACER logo. Called ACER. Warranty up 2 weeks earlier. They wanted $200, but I refused.

After much research, trial, and error, I got it working this last weekend! It is actually very simple. It is only a software problem.

1.) Download a copy of the Update.zip of the android version you want to put on it (Google A500 update.zip).
2.) Copy it to a Micro SD (leave the file named update.zip) in the main directory.
3.) Put the SD in your A500 and do a manual factory restore. (Volume+ and Power Button, then flip the rotation lock button) It will look for the update file on the SD card and put the OS back on the tablet.

I put ICS back on. After 2 days it is working perfect. I can't believe I could have done this 3 months ago.

1.) Download a copy of the Update.zip of the android version you want to put on it (Google A500 update.zip).

2.) Copy it to a Micro SD (leave the file named update.zip) in the main directory.

3.) Put the SD in your A500 and do a manual factory restore. (Volume+ and Power Button, then flip the rotation lock button) It will look for the update file on the SD card and put the OS back on the tablet.

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Ok, I'm with you on the volume button (and try to get the top side by itself), and the
power button. But where is this rotation lock button? I don't recall every noticing, or
even SEEING, that one.

And what's the best site to grab either the Acer version of update.zip or, perhaps, a
custom version (whatever is most recommended...warranty obvious expired (after
all, it failed right after the warranty ran out).

It'd be nice to have my tablet back as a useable device instead of a paperweight.

One question, though. Is there a way to do the same thing via USB? I gave my mom
my older tablet and, due to its VERY limited space, gave her the external SD, too, and
don't have the money for another one, and won't for a while.....

I don't think it is possible top do it via USB. Any chance you have an SD card in your phone? You could copy everything off that to your computer to use it and then put it back in your phone when you're done?